This is our first dashboard that drills down to the college level.  We have provided two filters related to the students’ first major: One that filters  on STEM/not STEM and a second that allows you to select students who started with (a) a declared major, (b) an Explorations major, and/or (c)an undeclared major that is not in Explorations.  Additional filters include sex and residency.

To access our newest interactive data dashboard:

Navigate to /oira/reporting/interactive-data/#retention

Need help getting started? Don’t forget to visit our Power BI quick start guide (pdf).

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Establishing learning outcomes is a foundational piece of any good program assessment plan, and given the independent nature of many graduate experiences, establishing program learning outcomes can look different at the graduate level. For this reason, we are focusing our attention on helping graduate programs produce “meaningful, measurable, and manageable” program learning outcomes during this academic year. 

To date, we have held two learning outcomes workshops. In October we held a workshop entitled “Graduate Program Outcomes at the Masters and Doctoral Level” in which we walked programs through the importance of establishing sturdy learning outcomes before trying to assess a program. In that workshop we provided some simple strategies for leading a faculty group through the development of learning outcomes.  We are planning to offer this workshop again in the spring for graduate programs who are currently working on developing or refining their student learning outcomes. The date for that is still to be determined.

An important question has been raised in this process: “Should the graduate school develop overarching learning goals that inform the learning outcomes of individual programs?” This month we facilitated a mini-workshop with the Graduate School Executive Board to explore what these learning goals would look like. It was a great discussion and ended with a productive time of brainstorming. Stay tuned for more on this in upcoming newsletters!

As always, we are here to help! If you are currently working on writing graduate student learning outcomes for your program, please let us know how we can assist you. Contact Ryan Weatherbee at ryan.a.weatherbee@maine.edu and Mandy Barrington at amanda.barrinton@maine.edu. We are looking forward to working with you in 2020!

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We have posted on our website a set of tips for increasing response rates. Among these strategies are:

• Please consider giving in-class time for your students to complete their online evaluations.
• Highlight the importance of evaluations.
• Remind students of online evaluations during the last two weeks of the semester.
• Send an email to students alerting them that they will be receiving an invitation to do an online course evaluation form. It would be helpful to include information that the email will be coming from Lisa Henderson. 

The Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CITL) has compiled a helpful document outlining methods for making the most of your end of semester evaluations.  This is posted on our website at /oira/faculty-services/online-course-evaluations/.

Important Dates for Winter Term Online Evaluations

UM Orono

Faculty adding personalized questions (QP) Begins:  January 11, 2020 at 10:00 a.m.

Faculty adding personalized questions (QP) Ends:  January 13, 2020 at 11:59 p.m.

First email to students to fill out (FO) the evaluation:  January 14, 2020 at 10:00 a.m.

Reminder to students to fill out (FO) the evaluation:  January 16, 2020 at 10:00 a.m.

Evaluations end:  January 16, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. 

UM Machias

Faculty adding personalized questions (QP) Begins:  January 10, 2020 at 10:00 a.m.

Faculty adding personalized questions (QP) Ends:  January 12, 2020 at 11:59 p.m.

First email to students to fill out (FO) the evaluation:  January 13, 2020 at 10:00 a.m.

Reminder to students to fill out (FO) the evaluation:  January 15, 2020 at 10:00 a.m.

Evaluations end:  January 15, 2020 at 11:59 p.m.

If your unit is still using paper evaluations, but interested in moving them online, please contact Ryan Weatherbee (ryan.a.weatherbee@maine.edu).

The post No reason to be BLUE about these numbers! appeared first on Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

Additionally, we want to thank the advisors who have participated in the pilot of the Navigate staff platform for appointments:

• College of Education and Human Development: Faith Erhardt, Dominick Varney, Jesse Kaye-Schiess, Emily Boutin, and Sydni Cosgrove. 
• College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: John Mascetta, Michelle Gayne, Tobby Bragdon, Sarah Dyer, Sara Lello, and Bill Osmer.
• Maine Business School: Cindy D’Angelo, Jody Loper, Amanda Paradis, and Jackie Leonard.

These advisors scheduled 2,963 appointments in Navigate this semester and helped us test platform functions including campaigns, appointment summary reports, group appointments, drop-in appointments, and more. 

Both of these pilots were guided largely by the Specialist Leaders Team, composed of members from each of the five colleges as well as the Division of Lifelong Learning and Athletics. Special thanks to the members who have served on this team, meeting three hours per week all summer long and continuing to meet throughout the fall semester; Niya Bond, Amanda Cupps,Cindy D’Angelo, Faith Erhardt, Julie Eubanks, Michelle Gayne, Ann Maxim, Tiffany Peterson, and Dominick Varney.

The Navigate teams are looking forward to full implementation of the staff platform in the spring semester and continued development of the student app. In January, Student-Initiated Appointment Scheduling will be added to the app.  Now that this important functionality is in place, we will expand promotion of the app beyond the first-year class. Our Navigate goals for spring 2020 include developing additional training materials for advisors as well as expanding Navigate access to include Student Life, Office of International Programs, and Tutor Programs. We will continue to incorporate units across campus, supporting a holistic approach to student success. As faculty and staff begin to utilize Navigate, OIRA will evaluate this first-year pilot through a combination of process and outcome metrics pertaining to  student success, persistence, and retention.

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